Reincarnation, Rebirth and other afterlife philosophies/beliefs
By missak
@missak (3311)
Spain
July 21, 2007 9:55am CST
I was preparing a discussion about rebirth and the difference with reincarnation, according to what a friend explained me here... But I am a bit busy and out of inspiration, and I don't find the correct words and don't know if I understood well... so meanwhile I would like to hear your views on the topic: what do you think/believe is the afterlife like? What is its purpose? Do we necesarily enter a new body after dying? What will be the same and what will be different? What will be better and what worse? Why? Also, do you have experiences related to all that?
6 people like this
21 responses
@Lakota12 (42600)
• United States
21 Jul 07
What I have heard that we resime our whole body to be perfect for like if someone here lost a leg or arm or eyes they would be of perfect body on the other side.
I also beleive that all people are just enjoying each other and haveing fun , No wars there at all everyone living in peace.
ANd no I havent had any thing happen to me that I thought it was from someone on the other side
2 people like this
@sweetie88 (4556)
• Pakistan
21 Jul 07
I wrote a complete answer of yours this question but as i posted it after too much time so, it disappeared & login page came & i had to come back & i have to write all that answer once again. Anyhow,....
Its my belief that there is another life afterlife. Its purpose is that everyone may get reward/punishment for his/her good & bad deeds which he/she has done during this life. It is neceassary to enter a new body after dieing because many people do bad deeds but don't get punishment for their bad deeds in this world. Similarly, many people do good deeds but don't get any reward for them. So, its neceassry to have another life afterlife so that everyone may get reward/punishment for his/her all deeds. The similarity between this life and life afterlife is that we all'll be alive here as well there and will be human beings. The most difference between this life and that life is that everyone living organism has to die atlast in this life but no one'll die in htat life whether he/she'll wish to die or not. Another point is that no one'll hurt, kill anyone in that life as people do it here. The better thing in that life is that everyone'll have received reward for his/her each & every good deed and there'll be peace & unity in that life and the worse thing is that people, who are doing bad deeds during this life'll punishments forever for their bad deeds. That life'll never end and people who do sins in this life'll get punishment forever there.
Although i have a lot of knowledge about this issue, yet I don't have any experience related to that as i didn't die yet. hehehe
I think that i've answered yours each & every question which you asked.
@sweetie88 (4556)
• Pakistan
22 Jul 07
Yes, you are right. I don't believe on reincarnation but i am a Muslim not christan.
2 people like this
@sweetie88 (4556)
• Pakistan
22 Jul 07
No no, I've written "don't" wrongly there. I believe that we have "soul" which gets freedom when we die and on the day of judgement, God'll make same organism in that soul which lives in this world.
2 people like this
@AnoChaudhary (1719)
• India
23 Jul 07
Hi Missak.ha so you did start this discussion sorry i didnot reply earlier. anyway i will just watch this one and see the different views and i will add my comment as well but iam also getting some things clarified based on the answers i see here so i will keep the discussion going :)
@AnoChaudhary (1719)
• India
24 Jul 07
LOL o no iam not disturbed at all Randy.. i love your way of asking questions researching finding views from different people...i think i always seem to do research t on my own and sometimes a bit scared to approch people with questions b'cos i dont have your paitence or your way of questioning people without offending....so its really nice to know i can learn so much from your discussions....yes i am going to give the Hindu version of rebirth and also my own view and in the mean time check perspectives discussion on soulmate once you combine these two ideas you will be clear in understanding this complicated subject...
1 person likes this
@missak (3311)
• Spain
23 Jul 07
You know this discussion was for you!
:)
I hope my doubts didn't disturb you, questioning things is my way of learning... I would be happy if you explain me again that difference between reincarnation and rebirth, and if you have some things that could clarify or make me think a new way on thoose doubts...
And thank you for inspiring me such a complicated topic.
@kayakalp (272)
• India
26 Jul 07
I never considered that re-incarnation or re-birth really exsisted, though my religion always speaks about it at vloume...however, few questions crossed in my mind which made me question my own faith on this!!My studies and my observation reached to a conclusion that there has to be re-incarnation...cuz if we remove this aspect many questions remains unsolved....during my studies I also came accross few books by Dr. Brian Weiss, who also confirmed the same thoughts I had and it also cleared few doubts I had in my mind....I belive science and religion alone is not complete in itself to answer every question...we need to understand how to ask question and how to get the answer....
2 people like this
@kayakalp (272)
• India
28 Jul 07
Missak,
Your questions makes me smile...cuz truest me when i was tryin to reasonin out things, these were one of the few questions which crossed my minds...i am also flattered to know that in just few replies u guessed dat i like to debate :-)...
I would definitely put accross my points, however, I do not have any evidence to prove it...i have just logically deducted it...
For your first point: I belive the souls come from one diemension and goes to another diemension...so many souls which have exsisted on this earth would already be in other diemension and there are many souls which are goin to come on this earth...
For your second: Remember, in one of your argument I stated that I do belive animals have souls but I wonder why GOD have made them...I dont think animals are closer to nirvana or we humans are more closer to nirvana...I still have my own doubts...however, till now I understood that the the life on earth is like a school wherein we need to pass the different levels to graduate to next diemsion and a soul exsisting in an animal body would be during on of those lower class...however, i myself is not very sure about it...
For your third point: re-incarnation is not because you were bad in your earlier life. This is a mis-conception....re-incarnation happens because of many reasons...to learn things, a strong desire to get things, to learn how to let things go...a person who had been saint in his one life would re-incarnate again if his soul has to learn few things more...
Since you have mentioned about vicious cycle, one of the thing which we need to learn to how to break a vicious cycle....I knw u wud ve more questions:-) u can ask me...cuz i can ans u more specific if i knw the question...
1 person likes this
@missak (3311)
• Spain
26 Jul 07
I agree with you, and I love your challenging replies. But about reincarnation I feel exactly the contrary: I am always considering the possibility of it to exist, althought it is an asian tradition I guess misunderstood in western philosophies. But for the moment, through my studies and observation, I have found a few points that seems to refutate it. So I am very interested in what are thoose arguments that cleared your mind, and I will try to read Dr. Brian Weiss.
I know you like to debat, so here are my doubts:
- I think the explanation for metaphysics (i.e. soul, spirit, energies...) is based on creativity and ego decisions. Otherwise said, souls exist because they are an ego with free will. According to that, reincarnation would be the incarnation of that soul (that free will ego) in a new body. But that would mean that there are limited souls in the universe (just a few ones reincarnating again and again), and this is a detriment of creativity (and somehow free will). So if this reflection is right, reincarnation is a contradiction...
- I don't like the idea that claims that human being is closer to god (or closer to the nirvana or whatever) than animals, what are the arguments for this? What is the difference between an animal and a human being if they can have the same soul?
- I don't like the idea that reincarnating in worse situation is the consequence of "being bad" in the previous life. That would mean that anyone who is suffering merits it, and so why would we help them? And then, if we don't help them we are "being bad" so that's a vicious circle... I don't find it philosophically correct.
@8ctavarium (552)
• Australia
22 Jul 07
I believe in reincarnation in that how your life turns out will have an impact on the possible outcome in the next life. That is my incentive to be good and respect people around me.
2 people like this
@markcoph (10)
• Philippines
22 Jul 07
Do you read the Holy Bible From cover to cover? Have you read about rebirth ang reincarnation? It was never written in the Holy Bible, If you're really a christian, then you shouldn't believe about this, God will punish all the non-believers to him. If you believe about that, then, you should punished in the dooms day.
2 people like this
@missak (3311)
• Spain
22 Jul 07
1. What about Saint Lazarus? What about the reincarnation of the Messiah or Jesus himself? Did YOU read the bible from cover to cover? You are not a good christian if you are not waiting the rebirth of christ!
2. The Apocryphus Gospels widely speak of reincarnation.
3. The parable of the Good Samaritan proves that perspectives has right: in the eyes of God it is better to love each other than to pretend to know everything about God.
2 people like this
@Perspectives (7131)
• Canada
22 Jul 07
Sorry the God I know and love does not 'punish' others. Maybe yours does...but not mine. The prevailing themes of Jesus's ministry was love others and treat them the way you'd like to be treated. Does that sound like the son of a God who punishes his own 'children?' Jesus was all about love, honor, acceptance, freedom...and he said that with the Golden Rule all other commandments are included.
So if the 'love of others' doctrine of Christianity really is true...why would the messenger who is supposed to be the embodiment of Source contradict the main message of love...to one of condemnation? That doesn't make any sense to me...sorry. I am not saying you are wrong...just that it doesn't make sense...and I have that right whether I will be 'punished' or not because God gave me the right of free will...to choose...just like you my friend.
Scripture were interprested and written down by humans...with Love as the foundation for all religions...I doubt that God will punish those who do not subcribe to some doctrines...not if Love is the answer Jesus taught to resolve all our human rights issues.
Just my perspective of course.
3 people like this
@sunshinecup (7871)
•
21 Jul 07
Ok this may be a bit confusing, but I believe in all of the above. I think we pre plan our lives with God's help before we are born. The ending is planed as well. We can plan to come right back, go on back home and what have you. IMO it’s kind of like planning a fieldtrip, do we go on another trip before returning back home or do we just return after the one trip? So IMO I do believe in reincarnation as well as just going back "home". Confusing? Yeah I agree, it's hard being me, LOL.
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@ItTakesAllSorts (4096)
•
26 Jul 07
I don't believe in any of it. Why do we put ourselves on such a high pedestall to think we go somewhere else once we die. We are born, we live and then we rot in the ground and thats it.
As for reincarnation, why? Whats the point or the purpose, I just don't believe it. I am a bunch of cells and my genes come from my parents. My brain is my own and not someone elses.
I just don't Adam and Eve it!!
Adam & Eve...believe (cockney rhymming slang by the way)LOL
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@flowerchilde (12529)
• United States
27 Jul 07
Missak, that is so true! to me it's a thing of the difference between something alive and matter.. A person, as compared to a piece of furniture.. or an old chevy rusting in the field.. There's something different about "being alive". Even a tree.. though it's not a thinking, rationalizing and speaking sort of life.. it still for a time defies that ironclad Law of Science which keeps all matter in a state of moving toward deterioration..
- Well, I'm getting sidetracked. But what I'm saying is, surely there's a difference between life.. and matter.
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@ItTakesAllSorts (4096)
•
28 Jul 07
For me, its a case of inherited genes that makes us what we are. Having children I see them do things and think the same as me sometimes and other members of my family. I have been compared to my grandmothers way of thinking.
Also, the way we are reared can have alot to do with the people we are.
I would like to hear your interpretation as I am always open to different perspectives on things.
I just cannot get my head around the whole thing as nothing in my life has ever made me think towards an afterlife or reincarnation.
Cheers
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@missak (3311)
• Spain
26 Jul 07
I respect your answer, but if you like to debat I have lots of things to say.
You had two points, a refutation of souls and a refutation of reincarnation, right? My doubts abour reincarnation are somehow similar to your second point, but I want to discuss your first point if you don't mind:
Do you think we have free will? creativity? capacity of invention? art? If you think so, I think I can prove the existance or at least the purpose of souls just basing on thoose affirmations.
@sarahruthbeth22 (43143)
• United States
24 Jul 07
I believe in reincarnation. I believe you come back as either a human or an animal.I don't understand rebirth. Do you mean you are reborn into the same body you have had?
1 person likes this
@minds_eye (58)
• Philippines
27 Jul 07
I haven't actually thought of that until this post. Well, what will I relate in this post is I think different as to what I believe. Anyway, for the sake of differentiating reincarnation to rebirth, maybe we can think of reincarnation to refer to only those what is experienced by spiritually evolved person in the afterlife. While rebirth could only actually happen to ordinary people, this experience is usually unconscious.
Well, The only difference could be how spiritually evolved a person is.
@AnoChaudhary (1719)
• India
27 Jul 07
wow that IS the difference....Randy read this and keep thinking you will get there.......
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@revdauphinee (5703)
• United States
21 Jul 07
I do not believe in any of that stuff because the bible tells me in
Hebrews 9: 27. Just as man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment,
so in effect it is telling us we live but once!
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@AnoChaudhary (1719)
• India
26 Jul 07
Hello Randy i normally dont copy paste but this time i had to b'cos the idea is from Hinduism and not my own point of view. I will write my own view too. since i read about the concept of soulmates i am trying to fuse the two to make sense. But this is what Hinduism tells about reincarnation. So please go ahead and read and tell me what you think :)its actaully very huge i tried to give the main points...
According to Hinduism a soul reincarnates again and again on earth till it becomes perfect and reunites with it Source. During this process the soul enters into many bodies, assumes many forms and passes through many births and deaths. This concept is summarily described in the following verse of the Bhagavad gita:
"Just as a man discards worn out clothes and puts on new clothes, the soul discards worn out bodies and wears new ones.
A being has to live many lives and under go many experiences before it attains perfection and becomes one with the Divine. The Hindu theory of creation suggests that creation begins when the individual souls becomes separated from the undifferentiated One. It continues as the evolution of life and consciousness in matter progresses. During this process some of souls journey back to God through the transformation of matter or prakriti in which they were hidden. The remaining souls continue their existence and rejoin Him in the end, not through transformation but through a process of great destruction. Thus the great cycle of creation, stretching over millions of years, comes to its logical end.
Hinduism does not accept the premise that under normal circumstances an individual soul can free itself completely from the entanglement with Samsara and unite with its Creator in just one life time. The Jiva has to progressively evolve through the cycle of innumerable births and deaths before the soul can liberate itself. From inert matter to inert consciousness and then to dynamic consciousness, from ignorance to semi awareness and then to self awareness, from attachment to detachment and then to complete freedom, from illusion to awareness and then to reality, from darkness to dawn and then into light, from mortality to immortality: this is the forward movement of life in the whole creation. And all this cannot happen just in a few hundred years.
It is very obvious that God did not create the worlds and the beings in His likeness, but in exact opposite to it. If He would have created everything in His true likeness then there would have been no differentiation and no possibility of any movement. Creation would have remained static, without an aim and purpose, offering no scope for movement and change.
It is true that God is hidden in every aspect of His creation. But that which is visible and sensible is not His true self. It is His negative and false self, which tries to compete with Him and fight for its own individuality, and finally, having lost the battle, would move towards Him in total obedience.
Thus the whole drama of creation seems to start with the creation of His individual selves that hide themselves in His negative selves so that a movement away from Him and then again back to Him can be initiated and sustained. The Hindu scriptures describe this process variously with such expressions as: "the true self hides behind the false self, God enters into Prakriti, self becomes enveloped with ignorance".
The awakening comes after wards. When the soul stirs and makes its vibrations felt by the ignorant consciousness, the seeds of spiritualization of the being are sown. The movement that began away from God now becomes reversed. It then starts moving away from illusion and ignorance towards God and Truth.
The inexorable law of karma operates through out this grand drama. Karma is the correction mechanism, the chisel with which the negative self, the inert stone, is chiselled away till the hidden deity comes out of it and enters the temple of God. In the ordinary circumstances, awakening of a sleeping self cannot take place through miracles but through trial and error. Good actions lead to good future, and bad actions to the opposite. An awareness of this very law is the first great awakening and the first sure leap towards the Light.
All this cannot take place in one simple life, but over a period of time involving many lives. It cannot happen on the strength of a life time's learning but in the light of a great mass of accumulated wisdom. It cannot happen if the purpose of whole life is to move towards light and truth.
This is where the idea of reincarnation of soul perfectly fits in. If we accept the whole creation as a grand process stretching over a vast period of time, we cannot over look the importance and the role of man in it. Man cannot make a brief appearance on earth, live just one life and then disappear forever into the cozy corners of some safe heaven, or the vast dungeons of some burning hell, leaving creation, God and Nature to themselves.
At the individual level, the movement of creation and evolution need not universally progressive. Since the whole movement is regulated on the principle of trial and error, of learning and improvement through such learning, some times, a retrogressive movement may also take place. Due to some unfortunate error of judgment, instead moving towards the light, a being may move away from it.
Thus depending upon the merits of the previous deeds, a being may evolve into higher life forms or regress temporarily into a lower life form. However, due to some peculiar circumstances, if an individual takes birth as a lower life form, he can still reverse the process. He can change his present actions and establish a basis for his forward movement again.
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@kayakalp (272)
• India
28 Jul 07
Ano great response...
I would also like to add here..I agree with your few points but disagree with few....there is nothin good and nothing bad when it comes to god. Good and bad are just the perception of this illusion or maya as we hindus call it. God is neither male or female...there is nothing good and nothing bad...the main lesson to learn it that the entire universe is withing you...if you obeserve your own body you would realise that Heaven and hell both is within your own body..as a person to survive you need help from both heaven and hell...this is wot vedas teaches you....
Waiting for few more points here to argue....
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@missak (3311)
• Spain
1 Aug 07
Hi kayakalp, I think I will make new discussions on more specific points where I can state the points from you and from Ano, I find them very interesting but very complicated to discuss all at once...
A silly thought came to my mind when reading your post: if this is what we have to learn, now that you know that, and now that I have read it, are we already in the Nirvana? :P
Well, I would ask you both to comment derek_a's point, answer 27, is this "Zen" perspective related to hindu one?
@missak (3311)
• Spain
27 Jul 07
Thank you very much! As you can imagine, I have lots of questions... I will write them but I don't want to drive you crazy trying to answer everything. Take it slow and just tell me your views if you have something to add :P
Well, first, as you know I have lots of influences from african religions. If you look at answer 27, derek_a gave me an explanation about rebirth from Zen perspective, that is very similar to african "rolling of heads". This is about souls changing of their context (sometimes body, but most usually destinies and other physical impliances), and there is no need to die for this exchange.
So my question now is, is that perspective related to hindu one, ant to your previous explanation? Also I noticed in this text the supreme God is treated as male, when someone in my hindu discussion explained that it is female, are there different versions?
By the way, the more I learn about hindu, the more similar it is with Yoruba! I love the explanation of the non-static world, very similar to Olofin's one! Also the idea of Karma is the Yoruban idea of Iré/Osogbo (Ire=good destiny lead by good actions, Osogbo=bad destiny lead by bad actions).
I can't wait for your personal view, and what do you think of my doubts on reincarnation :P
@derek_a (10874)
•
26 Jul 07
As a Zen practitioner, I aspire to the realisation that we are reborn every moment of now. The "me" of yesterday is no more as I am constantly being reborn. The future isn't yet so whatever lies there is imaginary or belonging to the domain of the ego.
If I look at the word, reincarnate, the dictionary definition says that it is to be born again in a different body. Whilst re-birth happens all the time, whether or not we are aware of it.
In Zen it is said that ultimate enlightenment is the realisation that all is one. If all is one, then the reincarnation of the soul means.. to come from the One to an individual body. If this is so, then reincarnation of the One is happening all around us, all of the time.
It appears that some may have an ability in their consciousness to recall the experience the One had before, which wouldn't be the experience of the individual, but the experience of the Whole through a different individual, therefore a belief that lies in the domain of the memory and imagination.
Like most spiritual matters, the more we try to fathom it out with our analytical finite minds, the more confusing it becomes, because we are talking about One-ness, about God or whatever name you wish to apply here. It is truly vast, beyond finite thought and all we end up with is a belief system and a belief system is based on "what could or may be" not "what is". What is, is based on unequivocal experience.:-)
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@derek_a (10874)
•
27 Jul 07
Yes, I would say so. The spirit points to the essence [of something]. It isn't something that is static, but in a constant state of evolution and transformation. So the essence (spirit) of yesterday is no more and in "reality" I have the opportunity to see that all is at one - the door to the spirit is in the moment of now - which is all there is, and then immediately transformed. Like, now... and now.. and. now.. and. now.. Spirit being energy, cannot be grasped, just as the moment of now cannot be grasped as it is constantly being re-born and in the realm of experiential knowledge. Even these words can only point to it, there is no way it can be really known except when we can totally identify with our spirit in prefect enlightenment. :-)
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@missak (3311)
• Spain
27 Jul 07
Thank you very much. This explanation of rebirth is much more clear and understandable than the one we usually get in the confused "western general knowledge". Actually, if I understood well, it is not about changing the body, but changing the spiritual context, is it? That makes much more sense, and is making me think a lot.
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@rahallahan (52)
• United States
22 Jul 07
My religion does not believe in any of this. So I really have nothing to add to your discussion. Sorry
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@flowerchilde (12529)
• United States
27 Jul 07
I think all are headed to paradise.. and this life is some strange reality that could very easily be called the twilight zone.. It's the lesson of everything goin' wrong.. or all ways in which things can go wrong.. and since we're all living right through it, its lesson and truth will be written upon our very molecules.. And thus will paradise be eternal.. I believe this whole 'world gone astray' thing is because we're not robots, ya know? I mean how can you have paradise if there is no creatures with thinking ability? And any sort of will, or individuality.. But let's face it.. the supreme power has to be Life itself.. the very life force.. the great spirit and spark of life.. everywhere.. and since 'he' is, he lives through, suffers and experiences all wrong things, and all sufferings which ever occur! I had to ask myself - why in the world would 'he' put himself through all that? Well, I guess it's because he's not creating an ant farm.. and robots.. I ultimately came to the conclusion that in order to remain aLive and Living.. Life simply is, has to be, and can only be Excellent.. and Perfect.. so he knew when 'he' gave rationality to angel and man all that was sure to happen.. so therefor the rescue was built right in.. As imperfection is what has made all things on the deterioration train (winds).. which is the second most firm Law of Science and Physics.. within which everything in our reality is in.. Therefore, it is "resurrection" which I be beleevin' in!:)
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@rsa101 (38166)
• Philippines
25 Jul 07
From what I know from reincarnation -- According to hindu beliefs it is a way to make our souls perfect itself from the mistakes that we made in our lifetime that we were not able to correct. We are reborn to learn how to perfect or to cleanse our life to prepare from entering heaven. That is why there is such things that are born here that are not quite fortunate in life. Hindus believe that everything you are right now is the sum results of what you have done in your past life. It is you obligation for you to correct it so that when you die you either join the universe which is perfect or go back and correct your path to a much better person. It is here that they show that God is compassionate letting you learn everything over and over until you finally get it right then you are allowed to heaven. The theory sounds convincing to me but I still have doubts since I have not seen myself that it is indeed happening that is why i cannot totally agree with this theory.
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@EvanHunter (4026)
• United States
27 Jul 07
Well I have two points of view on this subject that directly conflict with each other I have the christian point of view where we only live once but I also have studdied the buddhist philosophy and reincarnation does have some support.
So I guess I will find out when I get there is all I can say. As far as those who have vivid memories of past lives I am not sure if it some sort of fluke or real. I know there seems to be a big connection of people who have memories who were their ancestors so maybe there is such a thing as ancestoral memmory. Where memories can actually be passed on from the gene pool.
So maybe if you are having dreams about being a guy who was the milk man for your family 100 years ago its not because you were him but because your grandma had an affair with the milk man...lol. Small joke.
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@mr_merchant (21)
• Philippines
26 Jul 07
here is a solid description that reincarnation really does happen, have yuo watched discovery last year about the child since at 8 month know his ful identity? all of the sacred law of the wang yang temple? and whose as they started to mention it that he is the reincarnate of some old divine monk? and another instance that was told as well in that episode is that there also was a child wose since 1rst year old knows how to write physics equation and algebraic problems? these are the thing that make it almost certain that incarnation might be next to a posible state. that's only my defence though, go figure what other's side are.
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